BOOK 3 14 Cecrops, who was born from the earth and had the
body of a man and of a snake, was the first king of Attica. The land
formerly called Acte he named Cecropia after himself. In his time,
they say, the gods decided to assign cities to themselves in which each
would receive his own honors. Poseidon came first to Attica. He struck
the ground in the middle of the Acropolis with his trident, producing
the sea which they now call Erechtheis. Athena came after him and,
making Cecrops a witness, took possession of Attica by planting an
olive tree which can still be seen in the Pandrosium. When the two of
them, Athena and Poseidon, fought over the land, Zeus stopped the
fight and appointed the twelve gods as judges, ∣ not Cecrops and Cranaus, as some said, nor Erysichthon. ∣ They decided to award the
land to Athena because Cecrops testified that she was the first to
plant the olive. Athena therefore called the city Athens after herself. Poseidon in a rage flooded the Thriasian plain and put Attica under
water.1

Cecrops married Agraulus, the daughter of Actaeus, and had a son, Erysichthon, who died childless, and daughters named Agraulus, Herse, and Pandrosus.2 Agraulus had a daughter Alcippe by Ares. Halirrhothius, the son of Poseidon and a nymph Euryte, tried to rape
her, but Ares caught him and killed him. Accused by Poseidon, Ares
was tried in the Areopagus before the twelve gods and acquitted.3

2

Herse had by Hermes a son Cephalus, with whom Dawn fell in love.
She carried him off and, after having intercourse with him in Syria,
bore a son, Tithonus, who in turn had a son, Phaethon, the father of Astynous.4 He in turn had a son Sandocus, who traveled from Syria
to Cilicia and there founded Celenderis, married Pharnace, the daughter of Megassares the king of Hyria, and had a son, Cinyras. Cinyras
went to Cyprus with people, founded Paphos, and there married

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